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Army Veteran Recovers with Help from Four-legged Friend: Meet Luis and Tuesday

Posted by Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center on
Aug. 29, 2016

While deployed in Iraq, Luis Carlos Montalvan experienced a blunt force trauma to the head during an enemy attack. After returning home, the U.S. Army veteran coped with anxiety, sleeplessness, irritability and dizziness — challenges he didn’t know were symptoms of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Navy SEAL: Training Service Dogs is My TBI Therapy

Posted by Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center on
Aug. 28, 2016

Multiple traumatic brain injuries (TBI) left retired Navy SEAL Jake Young feeling agitated, with trouble staying focused. He never imagined that training service dogs would be a key to his recovery.Young was in treatment when his occupational therapist struck on the idea: Train your brain by training others. That training focuses on a different kind of military force — service dogs that help veterans like Young.Working with service dogs helped Jake cope with his TBI symptoms.

Surfing to Success: A Veteran’s Unique Therapy for TBI

Posted by Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center on
Aug. 23, 2016

While going through treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, Army combat medic Randy Dexter sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) playing flag football on base. After the incident, Dexter remembers that he “started having a lot of problems: concentration, memory, being all over emotion wise.”